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Midwest Clinic Clarinet Testing Round Up

Author: JamesOrlandoGarcia
Date: 2011-12-20 02:50

My main objective at Midwest this year was to try every professional clarinet I could get my hands on. I currently play on Brannenized R-13s with silver keys, Muncy barrels and an M30 13 mouthpiece. Here is what my particular experience Thursday and Friday was:

Every Buffet clarinet available was awful. Nothing came close to the quality of the Buffets that I currently have. Intonation on all the horns were all over the place in different ways except that low F/E were so flat that it felt like I was being pulled into the ground. Tonal consistency was a joke. I know that for one reason or another most people play Buffet but come on! It is ridiculous to let the quality of the horns to sink this level. Buffet should realize there is a problem when people can making a living scouting out the needle in a haystack Buffet for clients.

Selmer had a set of Recitals, Signatures and one Bb Saint Louis to try. I felt like the Saint Louis was bright. I'mt not sure what the origins of the horn are. The Recitals were nice. Great scale and sound. I had a hard time getting used to the thickness of the bodies. Then I played the Signatures which I loved and had loved every time I tried them. I found the intonation to be very flat with my 13 series m30 but when I used a regular m30, the pitch where it needed to be. I adore the consistent tone and response of the Signatures. I also felt that both the Bb and A felt very much alike and they weren't even a matched set. These clarinets have been around for ten or so years, why aren't they a major hit?

Backun had a booth at the event with a cocobolo Backun and a grenadilla MoBa. They were simply fantastic and the quality one would expect when thinking of Morrie Backun. Only downside... a set of cocobolo mobas would cost more than Honda Civic and there is rapidly growing wait list. Maybe post recession...

My big shocker of the week was trying the new Yamaha CSGII-custom clarinets. They came with Hamilton plated keys, Aux eb, and a low F and E correction mechanism. I was dumbfounded at how much I liked these clarinets. The intonation and response was so consistent from top to bottom. They were exactly what I was looking for. They felt like they were at a custom level as the Backuns yet at a very shocking price... they are only around 3600 per horn. I am eager to pick up out a set and try them in orchestra to take them for a real test drive. If they amaze me like this at the clinic, I intend to switch as soon as I can.

In testing all the clarinets I used sections of pieces that I had performed in the last few seasons where I had to bend my clarinets to my will. Some of these pieces include Mendelssohn 3, Peter and the Wolf, Beethoven 7 and then the etude Richard Morales recommends playing in getting a feel for a clarinet.

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